Can Anyone Make An Album That Sounds Like Amelia Earhart’s Distress Signals Coming Across a Shortwave at Night in Wyoming? I Challenge You

Exclusive! The new Clientele single paraprases or at least nods to the Beatles’ “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number).” Pitchfork misses it, writing ...Clientele more forward in every conceivable way: “You got my name/ Pick up my number/ Come on darling/ Let’s be lovers.” Maybe he’s in character, but lead singer and songwriter Alasdair Maclean almost sounds like a cad.

The Beatles’ song, a b-side to the single for “Let it Be”, was actually done in cad-character, as the asides in the song attest, as well as the purposely hokey vocals they used (Paul or John? can’t tell). And the Clientele’s riff is a faster version of the nightclub strum the Beatles used for their stomping version. And PS – a still-breathing Brian Jones plays sax on the track (recorded before but released after his drowning).

Exclusive! How’s that for music geekery? And in their paid-for-zeal to sell the album via the ‘pre-order’ link, Pitchfork might imply that God Save the Clientele, out May 8, is a step in a new direction; while the single somewhat is, the rest of the album isn’t (exclusive!), and is content to remain a decent follow up to Strange Geometry.

The Excuse: I’ve been sidetracked by excitement for the expanded and remastered reissue of Seefeel’s Quique record,which I can’t believe hasn’t happened until now. Eight years ago I considered starting a label just to reissue lost gems like this. To someone who’s been thanklessly writing about music for so long, there’s nothing more heartwarming than to know that a 15 year old record you raved about, in print, back when it came out, might prove that you weren’t as stupid as you suspect you were, when still a fresh from college idiot, circa 1993. At least not all the time. There was the drinking. And the woolies.

More on that tomorrow or later in the week, with tracks, since I still have the now rare original, and some later projects by Clifford, et al (Disjecta, etc).